About the Book

Almost ten years before Osama bin Laden was killed, the United States had the opportunity of a decade to decapitate the organization that so ruthlessly enacted the deadliest foreign attack on American soil in the nation’s history. Battles raged across Afghanistan in the 102 days following September 11, from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul to Tora Bora. Yet bin Laden escaped while al Qaeda and the Taliban endured the initial onslaught. In 102 Days of War, Yaniv Barzilai takes the reader from meetings in the White House to the most sensitive operations in Afghanistan to explain how America’s enemies survived 2001. Using a broad array of sources, including interviews with top-level U.S. officials at every level of the war effort, Barzilai concludes that the failure to kill bin Laden and destroy al Qaeda at the Battle of Tora Bora was not only the result of a failure in tactics but, more importantly, the product of failures in policy and leadership. 102 Days of War provides novel information and a new level of understanding about the opening campaign of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Informed citizens and military historians alike will find compelling this vivid and relevant narrative.

Author Bio

YANIV BARZILAI is a diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. Yaniv graduated with highest honors and highest distinction from the University of North Carolina in 2011 with a B.A. in Peace, War, and Defense and a minor in Arabic. In 2013, Yaniv received an M.A. in International Relations with honors from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he concentrated in Strategic Studies and International Economics.

Praise

"102 Days of War is both elegant and detailed. . . . It raises large issues that will concern us again and again in future crises."Ronald E. Neumann, Parameters